Due to the tough financial times, it is possible you were going to forgo this year’s vacation or perhaps spend drastically less. This article is full of great ideas for traveling on a budget.
If you plan on using your credit cards for spending while on vacation or traveling, make sure that you alert the companies that you will be traveling outside of your home town and give them your location. Failure to do this may result in your card being denied as the company may think that your card has been stolen.
When traveling with a dog, brush your dog before putting them into the car, particularly if the car is a rental. This will significantly cut down on the amount of fur that flies around in the car during the drive. It will also reduce the amount of time you have to spend removing the hair from the car.
Always let someone know when you are planning to travel. While unexpected trips and spontaneous travel may seem like a good idea at the time, it is not so great if something goes awry. Letting a friend, family member or neighbor know you will be gone and where you are going is always a good idea. Contact that person as soon as you reach your destination. Let them know when you will be coming home. You will be glad you did.
If you plan to opt for a night flight or just a very long flight in general, it may be best to bring some sort of sleeping aid. It’s quite difficult to sleep on airplanes anyway, but if you take a sleeping aid right before takeoff, you can arrive at your destination fresh and ready to take on the world!
An excellent way to reduce costs on your next travel adventure is to allow for flexibility of your flight date. You can literally save hundreds of dollars just by changing the day of the week you are willing to fly, as some days during seasons of high travel are sure to be packed with excess costs.
If you are planning on traveling in the coming months, keep your eye out for promotional deals online through various discount travel sites. By signing up through a discount site and entering desired travel destinations and dates into their database, you will receive emails that will alert you when there are especially low prices or good promotions to your next intended destination.
To make it easier to find your luggage when it comes around, put a very unique tag or marker on your bag so it sets itself apart from all of the others. It can be a scarf, some neon tape, a sticker, etc. Just make sure that it is something bright and obvious.
When traveling to a different area, make sure that you’re open to different local customs. Some ideas might be strange, but be respectful of other cultures. Not showing respect and not paying attention to local customs can be a real downer for your trip causing you to not feel welcomed in a city.
If you’ve ever traveled with young children you’ve undoubtedly been asked far too many times how much further it is. One way of solving this is to get each of the children a map and instruct them how to read it. They’ll be entertained, and you’ll be teaching them a skill that they will use the rest of their lives!
Make sure you check your credit card statement after you stay at a hotel. Even if your bill is correct when you pay at check out, extra fees may find their way into your payment. Sometimes rooms get charges twice by accident or another guest’s expenses will get put on your account. If this happens, call the hotel’s billing department right away.
To save money on baggage fees, you should weigh your baggage before leaving home. You can buy a good luggage scale for less than twenty dollars, and it could help you save big on airline baggage fees. If your bag is over the weight limit at home, it is easy to move things around or take something out, but it is much harder to fix a weight problem once you are already at the airport.
Everyone can’t afford to stay somewhere like the Ritz, but you may get stuck staying in a hotel that’s below one star. If the area seems a bit shady, make sure you take along a rubber doorstop. You can wedge it in under the door to your room overnight (in addition to the lock and chain, of course). Intruders may easily break chains and locks, but it can be nearly impossible to enter a room with these door stoppers firm;y under the door.
No matter the state of your finances or the economy, you don’t need to stay at home this year. Take in just a few of these ideas and your budget vacation will be more enjoyable than you could have imagined.
